A History Of Disc Golf – v1.4

776 B.C.
Discus throwing becomes one of the Pentathlon events at the Greek Olympics. The winner of the event received the Discus.

1644
Edward Frisbie of England settles in Branford, Conn.

1848
William Russell Frisbie is born in Wallingford, Conn.

1869
H.H. Olds hires William R. Frisbie to help sell his pies in Bridgeport, Conn.

1871
The W.R. Fribie Pie Bakery is founded in Bridgeport, Conn., as Frisbie takes over Old’s business and established routes.

1891
Charles Schwartz of Brooklyn, N.Y., applies for a U.S. patent for his “Spinning Toy,” (#476,825). This invention could be thrown from one person to another. However, no samples of this device have been found.

1903
Upon the death of his father, Joseph P. Frisbie becomes president of W.R. Frisbie bakery, and expands it from production of a few hundred pies a day into an enterprise with routes across much of New England. This sets the stage for “Frisbie” to become a widely known term that will lends its name to a developing pastime.

1905
The W.R. Frisbie pie bakery is now called The Frisbie Pie Co. and becomes a Connecticut corporation.

1910
The Frisbie Pie Company starts to use the “Frisbie’s Pies” logo on its products and in advertising.

1920
Yale is credited as starting the Frisbieing craze. This could have been a public relations ploy by WhamO to associate its Pluto Platter Flying Saucer with higher learning or, possibly to steer people away from Princeton University’s claim of first use.

1922
Ten-year-old Tex Robertson and neighborhood friends in Sweetwater, Texas, are playing flying disc games with metal can covers.

1924
Edward Early Headrick was born on June 28, 1924 and grew up in Pasadena, California. He was the father of 3 boys , 1 girl and all Disc Sports.

1926
Classmates at Bladworth Elementary School in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, are playing an informal game on a prescribed course that they call Tin Lid Golf. They are modifying the metal can cover so that it can be more easily thrown for distance with a backhanded motion. The first known instance of anyone playing golf with a flying disc occurred in Vancouver, BC Canada in 1926. A group of school age kids played a game with tin lids, which they dubbed Tin Lid Golf. They played on a fairly regular basis on a disc golf course they laid out on their school grounds.

1936
At Princeton University, Albert Einstein stops to admire a disc throw-and-catch game conducted with a round metal can cover. He is quoted as saying, “Very beautiful!”

1940’s
The origins of the Frisbee goes back to a bakery named the Frisbie Pie Company of New Haven, Connecticut, established by William Russell Frisbie. Before the bakery closed operations in 1958, the tossing of the company’s pie tins by college students at Yale and Dartmouth led to Frisbie becoming a well known term for flying disc play in the Northeast. In 1949, California inventor Walter F. (Fred) Morrison realizes that plastics technology could be used to make a disc-shaped flying toy. That year, the first flying disc produced with his partner Warren Franscioni, the Pipco (short for Partners In Plastic Company) Flyin-Saucer, hit the market.

1946
Walter (Fred) Morrison makes a drawing of the first plastic disc design that he called the “Whirlo Way.” Morrison’s disc design went on to become the 1948 Flyin Saucer.

Early 1950’s
On the east coast, Bill Robs markets the Space Saucer in college campus bookstores. In 1954, the first “Frisbie Match” was held at Dartmouth College. Morrison then improves his invention with a second disc, the Pluto Platter, with the now famous phrase “PLAY CATCH – INVENT GAMES” engraved on the back. Disc golf was one of those invented games! By 1954, a tournament for another new disc game called Guts is held at Dartmouth University.

Late 1950’sWham-O became interested in this flying disc in 1955 and about a year later began marketing the Pluto Platter after acquiring the rights from Morrison. In July 1957, the name was changed to “Wham-O Frisbee.” after the company heard about the pie tin game on the east coast called Frisbie-ing. In 1958, the first International Frisbee Tournament was held in Eagle Harbor, Michigan.

1958
Wham-O applies for a trademark on the word “Frisbee.” The application is filed on July 28, 1958. (First use, June 17, 1957; in commerce, July 8, 1957).

May 26, 1959:Frisbee receives Registered Trademark No. 679186.

Early 1960’s
Copar Company of Chicago markets a disc called the Sky Saucer that included a rulebook for the game of “Sky Golf” (looks more like Frisbee croquet).

1964
Wham-O introduces the “Official Pro Model” to be used for all disc sports, including disc golf.

1965
Modern Frisbee patent applied for based on design by “Steady” Ed Headrick of Wham-O, who would later become known as the “Father of Disc Golf”.

1967
Ed Headrick starts International Frisbee Association (IFA) and establishes standards for various disc sports such as Distance, Freestyle and Guts.

1968The U.S. Navy spends nearly $400,000 on unsuccessful tests of many flying discs to keep flares aloft for longer periods of time. The first game of Ultimate Frisbee, a disc sport similar to football, was played in 1968 at a New Jersey high school. This disc sport is now played at over 600 colleges in 32 nations.

1969
The first official disc golf tournament was held at Brookside Park in Pasadena, California. The goals were natural objects marked with a ribbon. Later, George Sappenfield organized several Frisbee golf events in Southern California. Disc enthusiasts introduce the concept of disc golf to other parts of the country. “Object Courses” using anything from lamp poles to fire hydrants as targets begin to crop up in the Midwest and East Coast.

1970
The Berkeley Frisbee Group (BFG) establishes a standardized 18-hole Frisbee golf course on the campus of U.C. Berkeley. Players use man-made and natural objects as targets. Berkeley is gaining a reputation as the “Mecca of Frisbee.”

The first “Frisbee Club” is formed in Rochester, New York and disc golf is played on a regular basis.

1971
Bill Schneider is teaching the first accredited Frisbee course at Sacramento State University in California.

1972
Rochester, New York becomes the first municipality in the world to hold an Annual City Disc Golf Championship.

1973Flying Disc World becomes the first magazine for disc sports. Dan Roddick wins a brand new 1974 Datsun B-210 at the disc golf portion of the American Flying Disc Open in Rochester, New York. The modern era of disc golf competition begins.

1974
Jim Palmeri and his brother John open the first Frisbee retail store called “The Flying Disc and Chess Shop” in Rochester, N.Y.

1975
Oak Grove Disc Golf Course located within Hahamonga Watershed Park in Pasadena, California becomes the world’s first permanent disc golf course. It was an instant success. Later that year, Wham-O introduces the World Class 119G disc, a marked improvement for discs in competitive sports.

1975
Ed Headrick organizes the Disc Golf Association (DGA).

1975
“Steady Ed” Headrick and his son Ken invent and patent a standardized Frisbee catcher called a “Disc Pole Hole.” In 1975, they install the first permanent disc golf course at Oak Grove Park in La Canada, Calif. During its first year of operation, nearly 5,000 people play disc golf during a given week. “Steady Ed” markets the first line of golf discs, the “Night Flyer.” The game was formalized when Headrick invented the first Disc Pole Hole™ catching device, consisting of 10 chains hanging in a parabolic shape over an upward opening basket, (US Patent 4,039,189, issued 1975).

1977
The first PDGA tournaments are held in Mobile, AL and Northern New Jersey. The modern era of disc golf competition begins.

1978
UCI is where the Whamo World Overall Championships were held from 1978-1981. The Winner of the disc golf portion of this overall tourney was recognized as the World Champion

1982
The first Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) World Championships are held in L.A. at La Mirada, Sylmar, Oak Grove, and Huntington Beach, CA. Harold Duvall is the winner.

1983
Innova Champion Disc Golf markets the first beveled edge golf disc, the Eagle. The beveled edge allows for far greater throwing distances than had been possible, radically changing the game of disc golf.

PDGA Champion – Open 1983 Huntsville AL Jeff Watson FL 1406 5 120

1983
Dave Dunipace, past World Distance and Disc Golf Champion, invents and patents the triangle-rimmed disc. This innovation brings the advantage of distance with accuracy to the games of amateurs and professionals alike. As a result, courses begin to get longer and more challenging; the excitement grows.

1984Disc Golf World News begins publication. This is the first magazine for Disc Golf. The same year, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is established to promote disc golf and Ultimate Frisbee events worldwide.

Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., awards the first bachelor’s degree in Frisbee to John Dwork.

PDGA Champion – Open 1984 Rochester NY Sam Ferrans CA 2872 5 141

1985
The World Flying Disc Federation organizes the first “World Championships” held outside of the United States, in Helsingborg, Sweden. Players from 21 countries attend. Around the world, players continue to lobby parks departments and college campuses for more disc golf courses. By the end of the decade, permanent disc golf courses are installed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Disc Golf World News (later shortened to Disc Golf World), the longest running magazine in the history of disc sports, began publishing in March of 1987. The last issue came out in January of 2008. All told, there were 84 issues.

2002
Christian Sandstrom sets world distance record of 820 feet. Christian shattered the distance record April 26, 2002 at “Big D in the Desert”. His record throw of 250 meters (820 feet) was made with a DX Valkyrie. Former team member Ken Jarvis was first to break the record with a throw of 247 meters. Ken’s record lasted a mere 45 minutes! The previous record of 217.05m (712 feet) had been set by Chris Voigt of Germany.

Steady” Ed Headrick, suffered two strokes while attending the 2002 Professional Disc Golf Association Amateur World Championships in Miami. He died in his sleep, August 12, 2002, at his home in La Selva Beach. He was 78. As per his wishes, his ashes were incorporated into a limited number of discs. The discs were given to friends and family and the limited remaining discs will be sold with all proceeds from the sales going to a nonprofit fund for the “Steady” Ed Memorial Disc Golf Museum at the PDGA International Disc Golf Center in Columbia County, Georgia.

2006
Ken Climo of Clearwater, Florida becomes a 12-time World Champion, establishing a new record that will probably never be broken. The book Flat Flip Flies Straight – True origins of the Frisbee is published by Fred Morrison and Phil Kennedy.

2007
Wham-O celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Frisbee by reissuing the original Pluto Platter in gold and other flying discs. The 50th Anniversary 3 disc boxed set, including a replica of original 1957 patent for the Original Frisbee, is a popular Holiday gift.

2008
Ben Calhoun and Greg Hosfeld share a round on what makes the 1,000th different disc golf course that both of them have played. Earlier in the year, Wham-O releases a 60th Anniversary 3 Frisbee boxed set with a limited edition glow in the dark version of the original Pluto Platter.

8/13/09 Tim Selinske passed away. Tim was one of the four founding partners of INNOVA-Champion Discs and served as the company General Manager and spokesman. Tim was a tireless promoter of disc sports in general and Disc Golf in particular.

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